Tough console market sees Square Enix report loss

Square Enix has reported a net loss for the nine months ending December 31st.

It blamed the result on what it described as “the increasingly difficult condition of the world-wide console game market, under which the Group is struggling to achieve a fair expected return on its investment”.

Net loss for the period reached ¥5,745m with operating losses hitting ¥4,853m. Net sales reached ¥102,795m, up from the ¥95,738m posted in the same period the year before.

Square Enix’s digital entertainment division saw net sales increase 7.7 per cent to ¥57,827m while last year’s operating income of ¥12,451m has slipped to a ¥392m loss.

On a better note, browser game Sengoku IXA and social game Final Fantasy Brigade are generating “acceptable profit”, while MMORPG Dragon Quest X “has been showing steady progress”

The company now predicts net sales for the financial year ending March 31st of ¥150,000m, up from 2012’s ¥127,896m. However, it forecasts a 30 per cent drop in operating income and a 42 per cent drop in net income at ¥3,500m.

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